Open Borders And International Migration Policy

Latin American and Caribbean immigration into the USA now accounts for half of all immigrants entering the country. In this volume, contributors analyze the tightening immigration policies in the USA and Canada alongside their promotion of free trade and hemispheric integration.

An Economist “Our Books of the Year” Selection Economist Bryan Caplan makes a bold case for unrestricted immigration in this fact-filled graphic nonfiction. American policy-makers have long been locked in a heated battle over whether, how many, and what kind of immigrants to allow to live and work in the country. Those in favor of welcoming more immigrants often cite humanitarian reasons, while those in favor of more restrictive laws argue the need to protect native citizens. But economist Bryan Caplan adds a new, compelling perspective to the immigration debate: He argues that opening all borders could eliminate absolute poverty worldwide and usher in a booming worldwide economy—greatly benefiting humanity. With a clear and conversational tone, exhaustive research, and vibrant illustrations by Zach Weinersmith, Open Borders makes the case for unrestricted immigration easy to follow and hard to deny.

Although philosophers debate the morality of open borders, few social scientists have explored what would happen if immigration were no longer limited. This book looks at three examples of temporarily unrestricted migration in Miami, Marseille, and Dublin and finds that the effects were much less catastrophic than opponents of immigration claim.

International migration is high on the public and political agenda of many countries, as the movement of people raises concerns while often eluding states attempts at regulation. In this context, the scenario challenges conventional views on the need to control and restrict migration flows. This book explores the analytical issues raised by open borders, in terms of ethics, human rights, economic development, politics, social cohesion and welfare, and provides in-depth empirical investigations of how free movement is addressed and governed in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia.--Publisher's description.

Introduction to International Migration introduces students to state-of-the-art knowledge on international migration, a contemporary issue of central importance to virtually all countries around the globe. Original chapters by prominent women migration scholars cover a complex and multifaceted issue area including various types of migration, the mechanisms of migration governance, the impact of migration on both host and home societies, the migrants themselves in a transnational space, and the nexus between migration and other aspects of globalization. Key topics include labor, gender, citizenship, public opinion, development, security, climate, and ethics. Refugee flows are tracked from beginning to end. Photos, figures, text boxes with real-world examples, discussion questions, and recommended readings provide pedagogical structure for each chapter. Intended as a core text for courses on migration and immigration and a supplement to more general courses in global studies, this book is appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate students in the variety of disciplines that deal with the challenges of international migration. Special Features Consistently structured original chapters by notable scholars include an Introduction, Empirical Overview, Theoretical Evolution, Continuing Issues, and Summary for every chapter. Chapter pedagogy includes Discussion Questions, Suggested Readings, and References as well as a Data Appendix for the book. Photos with thematic captions and Text Boxes on hot topics round out the visual and substantive appeal of the text.

The volume gathers theoretical contributions on human rights and global justice in the context of international migration. It addresses the need to reconsider human rights and the theories of justice in connection with the transformation of the social frames of reference that international migrations foster. The main goal of this collective volume is to analyze and propose principles of justice that serve to address two main challenges connected to international migrations that are analytically differentiable although inextricably linked in normative terms: to better distribute the finite resources of the planet among all its inhabitants; and to ensure the recognition of human rights in current migration policies. Due to the very nature of the debate on global justice and the implementation of human rights and migration policies, this interdisciplinary volume aims at transcending the academic sphere and appeals to a large public through argumentative reflections. Challenging the Borders of Justice in the Age of Migrations represents a fresh and timely contribution. In a time when national interests are structurally overvalued and borders increasingly strengthened, it’s a breath of fresh air to read a book in which migration flows are not changed into a threat. We simply cannot understand the world around us through the lens of the ‘migration crisis’-a message the authors of this book have perfectly understood. Aimed at a strong link between theories of global justice and policies of border control, this timely book combines the normative and empirical to deeply question the way our territorial boundaries are justified. Professor Ronald Tinnevelt, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands This book is essential reading for those frustrated by the limitations of the dominant ways of thinking about global justice especially in relation to migration. By bringing together discussions of global justice, cosmopolitan political theory and migration, this collection of essays has the potential to transform the way in which we think and debate the critical issues of membership and movement. Together they present a critical interdisciplinary approach to international migration, human rights and global justice, challenging disciplinary borders as well as political ones. Professor Phil Cole, University of the West of England, UK

Seeking to re-imagine the meaning and significance of the international border, Opening the Floodgates makes a case for eliminating the border as a legal construct that impedes the movement of people into this country. Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, as evidenced by President Barack Obama’s pledge to make immigration reform a priority. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how U.S. borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration. Controversially, Johnson suggests that open borders are entirely consistent with efforts to prevent terrorism that have dominated immigration enforcement since the events of September 11, 2001. More liberal migration, he suggests, would allow for full attention to be paid to the true dangers to public safety and national security.

Border control continues to be a highly contested and politically charged subject around the world. This collection of essays challenges reactionary nationalism by making the positive case for the benefits of free movement for countries on both ends of the exchange. Open Borders counters the knee-jerk reaction to build walls and close borders by arguing that there is not a moral, legal, philosophical, or economic case for limiting the movement of human beings at borders. The volume brings together essays by theorists in anthropology, geography, international relations, and other fields who argue for open borders with writings by activists who are working to make safe passage a reality on the ground. It puts forward a clear, concise, and convincing case for a world without movement restrictions at borders. The essays in the first part of the volume make a theoretical case for free movement by analyzing philosophical, legal, and moral arguments for opening borders. In doing so, they articulate a sustained critique of the dominant idea that states should favor the rights of their own citizens over the rights of all human beings. The second part sketches out the current situation in the European Union, in states that have erected border walls, in states that have adopted a policy of inclusion such as Germany and Uganda, and elsewhere in the world to demonstrate the consequences of the current regime of movement restrictions at borders. The third part creates a dialogue between theorists and activists, examining the work of Calais Migrant Solidarity, No Borders Morocco, activists in sanctuary cities, and others who contest border restrictions on the ground.

This book compares and contrasts the contemporary development experience of neighbouring, geographically similar countries with an analogous history of exploitation but by three different European colonisers. Studying the so-called ‘Three Guianas’ (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) offers a unique opportunity to look for similarities and differences in their contemporary patterns of development, particularly as they grapple with new and complex shifts in the regional, hemispheric and global context. Shaped decisively by their respective historical experiences, Guyana, in tandem with the laissez-faire approach of Britain toward its Caribbean colonies, was decolonised relatively early, in 1966, and has maintained a significant degree of distance from London. The hold of The Hague over Suriname, however, endured well after independence in 1975. French Guiana, by contrast, was decolonised much sooner than both of its neighbours, in 1946, but this was through full integration, thus cementing its place within the political economy and administrative structures of France itself. Traditionally isolated from the Caribbean, the wider Latin American continent and from each other, today, a range of similar issues – such as migration, resource extraction, infrastructure development and energy security – are coming to bear on their societies and provoking deep and complex changes.

Published in 1998. Migration patterns at the global level have become more complex, affecting more countries, more people and for a greater variety of reasons. Consequently, international migration is receiving increasing attention throughout the world. Migration is an inherently spatial phenomenon. But while the spatial patterns themselves have been described in recent surveys of global contemporary international migration, the causes and consequences of the spatial patterns have received surprisingly little systematic attention. Often migration is seen just from a host country perspective, or from a sending country perspective, without explicit consideration of the sub-national origin and destinations of the flows or linkages between countries. It is well known that migration flows follow certain gravity-like properties, that there is chain migration, that certain regions attract more migrants than others, that migrants are highly urbanised, and that within urban areas there are also concentrations of migrants leading to a reshaping of the urban landscape. However, such observations are often the result of purely descriptive research or case study research. Consequently, there is still a need for an integrated multi-disciplinary study of the spatial impact and the resulting socio-economic and political issues concerning migration. This book aims to fill this gap by bringing together a collection of papers which are primarily concerned with the spatial impact of contemporary international migration patterns, or with related issues. The topics of the papers are wide ranging and the focus varies from broad international perspectives to specific urban areas. Two general themes run through the papers. The first of these is that migration is an inherently dynamic process which may have either equilibrating or self-reinforcing (cumulative) effects. The importance of considering international migration in a dynamic context has come to the fore in several theoretical frameworks which are available in the literature to study this phenomenon. The second major theme of the book is the emphasis on the importance of personal networks in shaping international migration patterns, leading to pronounced clusters of (urban) areas from which migrants are drawn and of migrant settlement.